Sky
by ryoku1
Summary: The Magic Knights do not return to Cephiro. Eagle gets his wish.


The first time Lantis attempts to set foot on his own soil again, Eagle does not allow it. He doesn't want to be seen like this; weak and asleep, like some princess in a tower. If he wanted someone to hold his hand while he fell, he never would have come to Cephiro in the first place. Besides, it is best if Lantis simply forgets him. It would be easier on both of them. So Eagle keeps the barrier sturdy.

Lantis places his hand on the barrier, and it is the first time, in a very, very long time, that Eagle has seen those sky blue eyes outside of his dreams. It feels like they are looking right at him, as Lantis utters one single, "Please."

Still, Eagle does not budge.

Despite being rebuffed, Lantis doesn't leave. Instead, he sits on his black horse, and keeps his hand firmly placed on the barrier.

"I didn't know if you'd be able to hear me, but now, I'm sure." Lantis shifts his hand, running it gently against the barrier. "It's warm. Not hot, or cold, just warm."

Even so far away, it almost feels like something, something that he cannot name. Something, he cannot remember.

-\|/-

Lantis does not give up so easily. He continues to come back. Eagle tries to keep track of the visits, tries to remember the numbers, but they are not easy to keep in mind. Eagle doesn't think he comes regularly, but perhaps frequently is the word Eagle would use. If he comes on the days when Eagle is not himself, Eagle doesn't know it; but he does suspect it, for a time. Lantis came once, and was relieved to feel the barrier's warmth again; he said it was cold the time before, but Eagle has a hard time remembering when last Lantis came. It is forever and a second ago. Time is a concept he is no longer adjusted to.

Lantis tells him about may things. About people and places. At first, when he mentions Geo, something comes to mind, something with shape and substance washes over him. It's a person, strong and loyal, someone he knows, someone he does remember. But, as time passes, that slips out of his grasp, like water. It is a gradual thing, but one day, when Lantis mentions the name, his mind pulls up only a lingering warmth. There is no image or sound to the name anymore.

Lantis also talks about Cephiro's refugees, and how they have scattered to the wind, all in different places, learning different customs. How Clef is trying to develop spells to help the air in Autozam.

Eagle gets nothing from these people, no form or substance, just nothing. Eagle has just long enough to wonder why these people, Cephiro's people, left at all, before he drifts off. When he returns to himself, Lantis is gone, and Eagle can't remember what they- he, was talking about.

-\|/-

Lantis and the blue of Cephiro's sky, slowly morph into the same entity. Even though he forgets Lantis between visits, he always remembers the sky. And Eagle remembers, that he always wanted to reach such a blue, beautiful sky. When Lantis returns, sometimes, the name comes back to him -Lantis- but sometimes, it does not, and the man is only the sky.

The more time passes, Eagle has a harder time distinguishing between the two. The sky is always there, one way or another.

-\|/-

"It's always cold now. I can't remember the last time I came, and it was warm." The sky is speaking to him, but Eagle has a hard time comprehending what is being said. What is language? What is warmth? What is expression? What is cold? What is self? "Eagle." The sky says, and he knows it is his name, only because the sky says it. Even still, the name is only a feeling.

As he thinks of the sky, Eagle wonders why it has always been so distant, so unreachable. He wants to touch it. Even if the sky is not something he can reach, Eagle wants to try.

When the sky reaches, and touches him, for the first time, Eagle realizes he is a thing. A being with flesh and blood, a very small cage, within his much larger cage. There is an irony in this, that the sky can reach him, but that he cannot reach the sky.

But the sky does reach, and Eagle suddenly remembers that warmth exists, and that by its sudden absence, cold also exists.

He wants the sky to stay, he wants warmth to stay; and it does.


End file.
